DUPED?

 
People who follow me on Twitter will know that I have been critical of UKIP for sidelining Douglas Carswell and especially critical of Nigel Farage for demoting and then suspending Suzanne Evans from the Party, ( I know, it was the NEC ). I am also guilty of criticising UKIP and the Grassroots Out Campaign for their antagonism towards the Vote Leave Campaign.
I am beginning to see just how wrong I have been and I owe both parties a big apology.

In a letter to a constituent, dated April 21st 2016, Bernard Jenkin MP states that the Leave Campaign will not invoke Article 50 should the UK vote to leave the EU but will instead negotiate for a better deal with the 27 Member States.
See the full article by Raheem Kassam: http://www.breitbart.com/london/2016/04/26/exclusive-establishment-vote-leave-camp-admits-not-want-leave-eu-wants-negotiation-27-eu-member-states/
This is outrageous and fully vindicates Nigel Farage in his stance against Vote Leave. It also puts a big question mark against The Electoral Commission’s decision to back Vote Leave as the official Leave campaign group.

It makes me wonder if the “Big Six” Gove , Iain Duncan Smith, John Whittingdale, Chris Grayling, Theresa Villiers and Priti Patel along with Boris Johnson, all defected as part of a government plot to undermine the opposition to the REMAIN campaigners. If so, it is a total betrayal of trust. The British people, those of us who want out of the European Union, have given time, money and labour to ensure that we achieve our goal and we have been told that by only having two questions to choose between, on June 24th we will know for definite whether we are In or OUT!
It seems though that by giving the baton to Vote Leave we will be IN no matter what the result of the vote! Given Cameron’s track record for duplicity this seems more like fact than a conspiracy theory.

Cameron and Osborne have staked their political careers on this referendum and given the powers that they collectively wield I expected more from them. However, could this be the point? By setting up their very own OUT campaign they only need to drop out a few soundbites here and there to show the Europhiles that they are still fully in the game. Meanwhile, Boris and his merry men (and women) broadcast spurious seeds of doubt willy nilly to any audience big or small. There is a certain subtly in their campaigning, they send out a positive message but lace it with just enough confusion to sow doubt into anyone but a staunch opponent of the EU.
Boris is particularly adept at this. His whole career has been built around the ethos of playing the player and not the ball. Take his remarks about Obama, however true they may be they were puerile and made the OUT campaign look like spiteful amateurs with no real argument just flippant comment.

However tenuous my argument I do believe that serious questions need to asked of the Leave Campaign and its motives especially in the light of the Jenkins letter to one of his constituents. I do not think it unfair, therefore, to ask that the directors of Leave, Grayling, Gove, Duncan-Smith, Patel, Johnson and Whittingdale, sign an affidavit swearing to invoke Article 50 when Brexit wins the referendum. This would go a long way to reassure people of their intent and stop sceptics like me writing of my doubts in my blog.